India’s veteran opener Rohit Sharma has officially announced his retirement from Test cricket, drawing a close to a red-ball career spanning over a decade. The 38-year-old confirmed his decision via an Instagram story on Tuesday, thanking fans for their support and affirming his commitment to continue playing in the ODI format.
“Hello everyone! I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It has been an absolute honor to represent my country in whites,” wrote Rohit, who made his Test debut in 2013.
Rohit’s final Test appearance came in the fourth match of the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. After a string of poor scores, he was dropped for the fifth and final Test as India conceded the series 1-3.
Over his Test career, Rohit scored 4,301 runs in 116 innings at an average of 40.57, notching up 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries. He captained India in 24 Tests, winning 12 and losing nine.
Despite a promising red-ball career revival in recent years, the 2024–25 season proved a difficult farewell. Rohit averaged just 10.93 in 15 innings across eight Tests — the lowest among all top-seven batters with 15 or more innings during the campaign. Ten of those 15 dismissals were single-digit scores, marking the highest such count in a single season for any top-order player.
He had been widely tipped to lead India in the upcoming five-Test series against England in June-July but made his retirement decision public before the squad announcement.
Rohit had earlier stepped away from T20 Internationals following India’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph over South Africa, completing his exit from two formats within a year.